Jo’burg Child Welfare regrets the lack in this year’s budget speech of any attention to the plight of the hard-pressed nonprofit organisations  on which government depends for the delivery of the bulk of South Africa’s social welfare services.

Despite appeals to Treasury for a substantial increase in funding specifically for NPO subsidies, the mounting crisis in this sector seems to have been ignored. While we welcome the increases announced in funding for early childhood development services and the Isibindi programme for orphaned and vulnerable children, there remains an urgent need for concerted attention to the challenges facing the whole of our sector.

We also note that the increases in social grants and pensions are below inflation, and that the increase to the Child Support Grant is particularly tiny.

Jackie Loffell
Jo’burg Child Welfare.